Rahul Gandhi, who may or may not be a prime ministerial candidate in 2014, depending on who he talks to, has decided that the best way to beat the system is to appear on Prime Time. The Time is Now, his media advisers told him, so he is channel surfing, appearing one on one on a series of news channels. The nation, after all, needs to know. His second interview with a news channel has already taken place. Here are exclusive extracts.

Celebrity Anchor: Thank you very much for appearing on ĎPass the Buckí.

Rahul Gandhi: Really? I thought I was appearing on something called ĎLeft, Right and Centristí. I must be in the wrong building.

CA: No no, this is where we ask the tough questions and donít take no for an answer.

Rahul Gandhi: No?

CA: Is that an answer or a question?

Rahul Gandhi: I mean, thatís the line I heard from the last interviewer, so Iím a little confused. Maybe my team sent me to the wrong address. They have being doing that a lot lately, in Amethi, in Muzaffarnagar, they even sent me to the wrong tea stall when I was meeting with vendors last week.

CA: On this show, you canít pass the buck. Talking about tea stalls, now that the BJP has declared their PM candidate, isnít it time you declared your ambition?

Rahul Gandhi: My ambition is to empower women, my ambition is to empower children, my ambition is to empower the poor, my ambition is to empower the middle class, my ambition is to...

CA: Sorry for interrupting, but you still havenít answered the specific question and given a specific answer.

Rahul Gandhi: When you were a baby, didnít you have a lot of questions? Specific questions? And no one was around to give you answers, specific answers? Itís like that. You have to find your own answers.

CA: Okay, lets put it this way. Iím assuming you are better prepared now to take on the tough challenges ahead.

Rahul Gandhi: Yes, my team has been briefing me on how to conduct an interview without talking about specifics.

CA: I meant better prepared to become PM if the Congress were to form a government in 2014?